Mortuary Practices of Later Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers in Northern Malawi

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Human Origins Migration and Evolution Research Consortium Poster Symposium" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Later Stone Age (LSA) hunter-gatherer mortuary practices are poorly understood in south-central Africa. Tropical climate and acidic soils hinder preservation, bioturbation is prevalent, and research coverage is sparse. The site of Hora 1, in the Mzimba District of Malawi, provides a rare opportunity to examine diversity and continuity over time in mortuary practices. Two flexed adult burials of a male and female, recovered in 1950, were recently dated to ~9000 and ~8000 cal BP, respectively. A fragmentary adult skeleton, recovered in 2017–2018, represents an incomplete cremation dated to ~9500 cal BP. In 2019, two infant (neonate) skeletons were recovered below this incomplete cremation, and show further diversity in mortuary treatment. The first, a nearly complete flexed burial, was missing lower limb, hand, and foot elements that cannot be explained through taphonomic or postdepositional processes. Review of the original 1950 report shows that the flexed adult female was missing the same elements. The second infant burial also showed signs of postmortem manipulation, with partially articulated limbs recovered alongside the skull, rather than in anatomical position. Here we situate these five sets of remains within ethnographic and regional archaeological data and evaluate the possibility of mortuary curation practices during the LSA of northern Malawi.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Human Origins Migration and Evolution Research Consortium Poster Symposium

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32696